iPad users 'get a real computer' : Microsoft CEO

Microsoft executives earlier this year said that Apple copied the Surface Pro with the iPad Pro. Photo: Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently was in India where he encountered a pair of journalists who were both sporting Apple iPad Pro tablets. "You need to get a real computer, my friend," the executive said to one of them.

Nadella took a jab at Apple when he recently said that Microsoft is not a luxury goods manufacturer. Instead, Microsoft's CEO said that his company is a tool creator, developing technologies that others can use to build with. There is no question which of his rivals Nadella was referring to with that luxury goods comment.

Other Microsoft executives earlier this year said that Apple copied the Surface Pro with the iPad Pro. Ryan Gavin, General Manager of the Surface line, was a bit more specific when he stated that the iPad Pro was the result of Apple copying Microsoft in the 2-in-1 category.

There are those who say that there are many similarities between the two devices. Both employ a touch-screen and can work with a stylus (Surface Pen and the Apple Pencil) and feature detachable QWERTY keyboards. But there is a major difference in the operating systems used by both tablets. The Microsoft Surface Pro runs on Windows 10 Pro, an OS designed for personal computers. The Apple iPad Pro runs on the company's iOS mobile operating system.

"I don't want to take away from whatever success Apple or Google are having. We are very different companies. We are not some middleman in the marketplace. We are a tool creator; we are not a luxury good manufacturer. That's not who we are. We are about creating technologies so that others can build."